Walt Whitman was born in Huntington, Long Island, where he lived with his family until 1823. Unable to support his household on a carpenter’s salary, Whitman’s father moved the family to the City of Brooklyn, where he enrolled his son in a local grammar school. Although souring economics forced the Whitmans to return to Long Island in 1833, young Walt stayed behind and took work as a printer’s apprentice, his first foray into the world of words.